Aberdeen is a small town in the upper

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, in

Upper Hunter Shire The Upper Hunter Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in May 2004 from the Scone Shire and parts of Murrurundi Shire, Murrurundi and Merr ...

. It is 12 kilometres north of

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney bas ...

on the

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, Queensland, Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham, New South Wales, Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ...

History

In 1828 Thomas Potter McQueen was granted 10,000 acres, and named the small township after

George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (28 January 178414 December 1860), styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in f ...

. In 1837 Segenhoe Inn was built, which Potter McQueen named after Segenhoe Manor, in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

, where he was born in 1791. Aberdeen Post Office opened on 1 August 1856.

Population

According to the 2021 census of Population, there were 1,872 people in Aberdeen. * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 10.6% of the population. * 89.3% of people were born in Australia and 93.2% of people only spoke English at home. * The most common responses for religion were Anglican 27.0%, Catholic 24.8% and No Religion 33.4%.

Today

Aberdeen has its own pre-school, which was founded in 1977. The town contains two schools: the Aberdeen Public School, catering from kindergarten to Grade 6; and St. Joseph's High School, a Catholic co-educational high school catering for Grades 7 through to 12. Aberdeen has two churches – St Thomas's Catholic Church, and St Mark's Anglican Church. It once had a third church, St Paul's Uniting Church, which has now been turned into an art gallery called the Artemis Gallery. St Joseph's Aberdeen High School is located next to St Thomas's Catholic Church. The town has a local rugby league team, the Aberdeen Tigers. For travellers, there are two main areas for accommodation in the town: the Aberdeen Motel, which is on the southern edge of the town; and the Segenhoe Inn, which is situated towards the northern end of town. The Commercial Hotel is also available for budget accommodation.

Transport

Aberdeen is on the Main North railway line, and is serviced by a daily Xplorer long-distance service in each direction between

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

, as well as two/three local services in each direction between

Scone A scone ( or ) is a traditional British and Irish baked good, popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is usually made of either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. Osborn’s Buses runs a bus service between Aberdeen, Scone and Muswellbrook. There are approximately 20 services per week in each direction.

Abattoirs

Aberdeen is possibly best known for the former

abattoir In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

s in the town centre, which operated for well over 100 years, before the most recent owners - an American company called

Conagra Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

- decided to close down their New South Wales abattoirs and concentrate on their

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

operations. One factor in closing down what was once a very important abattoir for Conagra, was that the financial cost of upgrading the Aberdeen Abattoir was deemed too high, thus the abattoir - which was the largest single employer in Aberdeen - was closed in 1999. Hundreds of people were left without work, and despite promises from both the New South Wales and Federal governments to encourage new businesses to open up in the area, beyond expansion of coal mining and associated industries, nothing of note eventuated.

Notable people

* Katherine Knight (born 24 October 1955), murderer who killed her partner, skinned him and cooked his body parts

References

External links

{{authority control Suburbs of Upper Hunter Shire Towns in the Hunter Region Hunter River (New South Wales)